Dennis RomeroView more photos from the scene of the protest in Ted Soqui's slideshow, “Anti-Arizona Immigration Law Protest @ Highland & Wilshire.”
Updated with arrests. Originally posted at 10:43 a.m.
Los Angeles police on Thursday afternoon were in the process of arresting demonstrators who laid down on Wilshire Boulevard near Highland Avenue in Hancock Park to protest Arizona's controversial immigration law, according to KCAL9. The protest was declared an unlawful assembly and Los Angeles Police Department Metropolitan Division officers moved into to remove a “circle of 10” demonstrators that helped to block traffic for more than four hours.
Even as a federal judge on Wednesday blocked the law's most controversial provisions, including one that would have encouraged police to check the immigration status of suspects they believe could be in the United States illegally, sizable protests were scheduled today both in Los Angeles and in Arizona, where some Angeleno activists have traveled to make their stances known.
Credit: @keith_caulfield via Yfrog
On Wilshire Boulevard the several dozen protesters from the We Are All Arizona Collective focused on the nearby corporate offices of G4S Wackenhut Corp. Demonstrators said the international security consulting firm would benefit from Arizona's law, which took effect Thursday.
“We are making the point today that we don't want … tax dollars going to these corporations to be enforcing racist immigration laws,'' protester Paulina Gonzalez told the radio station. “And that's why we're here today. We're going to be out here protesting until this law is overturned … “
-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.
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